| Oakland Ballers | |||||
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| Class | Independent | ||||
| League | Pioneer League | ||||
| Team data | |||||
| Name | Oakland B's | ||||
| Colors | Green, gold, gray | ||||
| Ballpark | Raimondi Field (4,000) | ||||
Owner(s)/ Operator(s) | Oakland 68s (Paul Freedman & Bryan Carmel, founders) | ||||
| Manager | Micah Franklin | ||||
The Oakland Ballers, nicknamed the Oakland B's, are an independent baseball team that started play in the Pioneer League in 2024.
The team was created following the approval of the Oakland Athletics' relocation to Las Vegas by MLB team owners. The non-profit Oakland 68s raised more than $2 million to establish the team [1] and was inspired by the success of Oakland Roots SC soccer team. [2] The press release for the team's announcement included a pledge for fan ownership based around a 2024 crowdfunding campaign. [3] Don Wakamatsu was appointed as the team's first-ever executive vice president of baseball operations. [4] The first player signed to the team was Dondrei Hubbard, announced on December 10, 2023. [5]
They are located in Oakland, California, and initially planned to play their home games at Laney College, [6] with an expansion of the park's facilities to hold upwards of 2,500 fans. [7] [8] A proposed game at the Oakland Coliseum was blocked by the Oakland Athletics. [9] In February 2024 it was announced that they would instead play their home games at Raimondi Field in West Oakland, with a capacity of 4,000 fans. [10]
On April 10, 2024, Kelsie Whitmore signed with the Oakland Ballers. [11] She became the first woman to play for the Pioneer League when playing for the Ballers later that year. On June 6, 2024, playing for the Ballers, she became the first female player to start a Pioneer League game. In that game she struck out one batter. [12]
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The Oakland Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team currently plays its home games at the Oakland Coliseum, with plans to temporarily move to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California, for the 2025–2027 seasons, prior to their permanent move to Las Vegas. The relocation will mark the first move by an MLB team since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C., becoming the Washington Nationals. The nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles that the A's have won throughout their history is the second-highest in the American League after the New York Yankees.
The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's corporate headquarters is located at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Pioneer Baseball League is a professional baseball league based in the Western United States. It operates as one of four Major League Baseball (MLB) Partner Leagues in the American independent baseball league system without MLB team affiliations. The league is contested by twelve teams from the Northern California and Rocky Mountains regions, who play a regular season split into two halves. The top two teams at the end of each half qualify for a postseason tournament that determines the overall champion.
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium in Oakland, California, United States. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. In 2017, the playing surface was dedicated as Rickey Henderson Field in honor of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and former Athletics left fielder Rickey Henderson.
The Bay Bridge Series, or the Battle of the Bay, is a series of baseball games played between—and the rivalry of—Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics of the American League and San Francisco Giants of the National League. The series takes its name from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge which links the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. As of 2018, the winner of the annual series retains a trophy fashioned from a piece of the original bridge.
Aaron Wade Miles is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2003 to 2011 for the Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also managed the Pittsburg Diamonds of the Pacific Association. In 2024, Miles was named infield and third base coach of the newly formed Oakland Ballers of the Pioneer League.
William Alex North is an American former center fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1971 to 1981, he played for the Chicago Cubs (1971–72), Oakland Athletics (1973–78), Los Angeles Dodgers (1978) and San Francisco Giants (1979–81). He was a switch hitter and threw right-handed.
The Oakland Athletics' 1987 season involved the A's finishing third in the American League West with a record of 81 wins and 81 losses. Mark McGwire set a rookie record by hitting 49 home runs. At the beginning of the season, the word "Athletics" returned, in script lettering, to the front of the team's jerseys. Former A's owner, Charles O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name in the past because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack. In his first full Major League season, Mark McGwire hit 49 home runs, a single-season record for a rookie; he was named the American League Rookie of the Year. McGwire would be the first American League rookie since Al Rosen of the Cleveland Indians in 1950 to lead the American League in home runs. The 1987 season also saw the return of Reggie Jackson to Oakland.
Women have a long history in American baseball and many women's teams have existed over the years. Baseball was played at women's colleges in New York and New England as early as the mid-nineteenth century; teams were formed at Vassar College, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Mount Holyoke College. An African American women's team, the Philadelphia Dolly Vardens, was formed in 1867.
Brett Franklin Anderson is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2009 to 2021 for the Oakland Athletics, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, and Milwaukee Brewers.
Below are selected minor league players and the rosters of the minor league affiliates of the Oakland Athletics:
The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seasons and then to the San Francisco Bay in Oakland, California, in 1968. The team endured numerous attendance issues stemming from the aging Oakland Coliseum before the MLB owners approved the team's application to relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2023. With four locations, the A's have had the most homes of any MLB team.
Liam Johnson Hendriks is an Australian professional baseball closing pitcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox. He has been an All-Star three times and was the American League's Reliever of the Year in 2020 and 2021. His most recent accomplishment is winning the AL MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award for the 2023 season.
The Oakland Athletics' 2012 season was the organization's 45th in Oakland, California and the 112th in club history. The team finished with a final record of 94–68, claiming first place in the American League West and reaching the postseason for the first time since 2006. After winning their last game of the season, they took sole possession of the West for the first time all year, overtaking the Texas Rangers. The A's had trailed Texas by 13 games on June 30, and had a five-game deficit with nine days left in the season. The 2012 team, which led the league with 15 walk-off wins, managed this with the second-lowest payroll in baseball, at $59.5 million. They lost in five games to the Detroit Tigers in the Divisional Series.
Robert Dean Manfred Jr. is an American lawyer and business executive who is serving as the tenth commissioner of Major League Baseball. He previously served as MLB's chief operating officer. Manfred succeeded Bud Selig as commissioner on January 25, 2015.
The Sonoma Stompers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Sonoma, California. They are current members of the California Collegiate League. They began play as members of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in 2014. They are a successor franchise to the defunct Sonoma County Grapes, and were the first professional team to make Sonoma County home since the Sonoma County Crushers ceased play following the 2002 season.
Kelsie Whitmore is an American professional baseball pitcher and outfielder for the Oakland Ballers of the Pioneer League. She was the first woman to appear in the starting lineup in an Atlantic League game. She was a member of the United States women's national baseball team from 2014 to 2019. Whitmore played college softball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans and has also played professionally for the Sonoma Stompers of the Pacific Association and Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
The Staten Island FerryHawks are an American minor-league professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Staten Island. They are a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball They play their home games at SIUH Community Park, the former home of the Staten Island Yankees, which is in the St. George neighborhood and overlooks the Manhattan skyline across New York Harbor.
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